ABSTRACT
Background and Aim: The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged coronavirus epidemic as a pandemic and declared the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern. Emerging research has suggested that these various restrictions, as well as the fear of the virus itself, may have caused children to experience negative mental health consequences. Due to increased amounts of time spent at home the parents need to be aware about the changes in the mental and physical health of the children. This study, thus aimed to survey the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on physical and mental health of school-going children. Material(s) and Method(s): A cross sectional survey was designed to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on the physical and mental health of children. The data is collected with the use of online survey platform. A semi structured questionnaire was developed with several open and close ended questions to examine the effect of lockdown on the mental and physical health of the children from parent-reported changes. Any mental health issues and emotional problems newly emerged or aggravated during lockdown were also enlisted. Another objective was to determine the level of awareness amongst parents about the importance of PA for the child. Result(s): A total of 200 children were included in the study. When the comparison was done in time from before and after lockdown, it was found that the hours spent on mobile were increased from 2 hours to 5 hours. There was significant decrease in the time spend for physical activity. A total of 65% of the respondents reported that there was change in the behaviour of the children. Around 58% of the children had shown the physical changes like eyestrain, fatigue, neck pain, head ache, lower back pain and major problem with increase in weight of children. Conclusion(s): More research is needed to improve our understanding of the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's mental health, especially with regards to the identification of protective factors found in children who may have been less affected by the pandemic. Copyright © 2023, Institute of Medico-legal Publication. All rights reserved.